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Sen. Perdue Discusses Hurricane Irma & Tax Priorities on CNBC

Targeted News Service (Press Releases)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 -- The office of Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA) spoke with Joe Kernen on CNBC's Squawk Box about Hurricane Irma's impact on Georgia and President Trump's efforts to overhaul the tax code to help middle-class families and make America more competitive.

Responding To Hurricane Irma: "We had a big storm. There was an 11-foot surge in Savannah because it hit at high tide yesterday. Georgia's digging out today. As I was evacuating over the weekend, I noticed dozens of out of state power trucks headed down to restore electricity. So water and wind are a big story in Georgia. Unfortunately, we did have three fatalities and over a million people are still without power. We've got to get power going again and make sure people can return to their homes safely."

Doing The Right Thing: "Congress stepped up and voted for relief funding in a moment of crisis. The problem is, in the future, we're going to have less and less of the ability to deal with these emergencies. In a moment of crisis, we do what we have to do."

Spending Borrowed Money: "Every dollar that President Trump and Congress allocated toward relief for Harvey and now for Irma, is borrowed money. We've had this conversation. Because of our debt crisis, we're losing the right to do the right thing."

Making America More Competitive: "Our corporate rates are not competitive with the rest of the world. That makes our companies in the U.S. very vulnerable. We are the last country to have a repatriation tax. Those two things alone will free up a lot of capital and get our economy going again."

Americans Expect Tax Changes: "We've got to get this priority done at all cost. That's what the American people want. I just spent several weeks around Georgia and I can tell you that's exactly what people expect. If we can get this tax package done in some form, this economy is ready to turn right now."

Washington Is Out Of Touch: "These scoring models up here have no relation to the real world. We've got to change the way Washington decides on these financial matters, including the budget process. All of this finagling around scoring doesn't lead to the right decisions in many cases."